April 25, 2013

It is all in the hands of the City of Cupertino, Calif. — whether Apple’s ‘spaceship’ headquarters will get the green light to land on the 176-acre site of the former Hewlett Packard campus.

Apple has submitted a revised proposal for its elaborate new headquarters — and the city has since published the details of ‘Apple Campus 2’ on its website.

Included are a project description, introduction, site and landscaping plans, floor plans, renderings, even a bicycle plan, although the city site notes all are subject to change.

Although the 2.8-million-square-foot building — shaped like a four-storey ring — was originally announced by co-founder Steve Jobs a few months before his death in 2011, not a single shovel has pierced the ground at the Cupertino site, despite Jobs’ hopes of a 2012 start date. It was to have been completed in 2015.

But, just like any massive project, Apple’s ‘spaceship’ has been hit by delays such as trying to cut costs.

It was rumored earlier this month that costs had ballooned from less than $3 billion to $5 billion and that Apple has been working with chief architect Foster + Partners to slash $1 billion from the budget before construction commences.

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It is now thought construction will begin next year and end sometime in 2016.

According to a report filed with the city, the purpose of the campus is to “create an innovative and beautiful campus near Apple’s Infinite Loop facility that consolidates up to 14,200 of Apple’s engineers and support personnel in a single distinctive office, research and development building with supporting facilities.

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“The purpose of consolidation within a single building set in a secure landscape is to promote shared creativity and collaboration, and spur invention of the next several generations of Apple products.”

Apple chose the site because it offers “the security and privacy required for the invention of new products by eliminating any public access through the site, and protecting the perimeters against trespassers,” the report reads.

The project includes the demolition of the old Hewlett Packard campus, which translates into roughly 2.65 million square feet of buildings.

Just the excavation of the site alone is an immense job. A former Apple manager told Bloomberg there is so much dirt to be removed, excavation will take six months and “require a continuous, 24-hour convoy of trucks.”

The lion’s share of the work, however, will be wrapped up in the construction phase of the project.

Building a structure to house 14,200 Apple office, research and development employees is no small feat. According to the plans, the building will be approximately 2.8 million square feet and will include an employee restaurant and dining facilities, a kitchen and loading dock, meeting rooms, plant rooms and engineering and testing spaces. The plans also call for a central plant and research facilities that will take up about 300,000 square feet of space and a 1,000-seat corporate auditorium as well as a fitness center and, of course, the parking spaces necessary for employees and visitors — 10,980 to be exact.

Apple is also requesting development allocation of up to 300,000 square feet of office space “for subsequent development located within the project area.”

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Landscaping, which will work with the natural vegetation of the area, has been broken down into four areas:

• A “passively programmed Oak Savanna” which will flow between the parking structure and the main building;

• Outdoor sports and fitness areas on the northwest side of the campus;

• Natural landscaping and an outdoor dining terrace connected with the indoor café;

• An inner courtyard within the main building that will join “natural and cultural elements, orchards and dining terraces, a large basin of water within a grove, an amphitheater within an orchard and woodlands, and numerous areas to walk, stroll, meet, rest, and work outdoors in shade or sun.”

The City of Cupertino must still approve the environmental impact survey and host planning commission and city council public hearings as well as carry out a development review of the project before final approval can be given.